5 Easy Ways to Add Protein to Your Diet

It’s probably pretty clear by now that I am very passionate about eating foods that serve a dual purpose. Of course, I want it to be delicious. That’s a given. But I also want it to provide me the maximum possible nutrition.

As I’ve mentioned several times over recent weeks as part of my partnership with The Milk Life Campaign, I am a huge fan of nutrient-rich dairy. Whether it’s milk, cheese or yogurt, you can bet on me eating it every single day to fuel my busy life. From breakfast to dessert and everywhere in between, here are five ways I incorporate dairy into my diet to give me the energy I need as a busy working mom:

MY LATEST VIDEOS

Start The Day Right: Breakfast is vital to the success of the rest of my day. If breakfast doesn’t happen, I end up tired, hungry and fighting off a headache within a couple hours. Six days a week I head to the gym right after I drop my oldest at preschool. By adding at least one or two servings of dairy to my breakfast, I know I’ll have protein and nutrients to get in a great workout. Try adding yogurt to your smoothies, preparing oatmeal with milk or adding cheese to your egg bakes.

Eat Yogurt at Lunch: Whenever I make a pot of soup or stew, I always freeze leftovers for a quick weekday lunch. Inevitably, I always top it off with a dollop of plain yogurt to give it another boost of protein and a cool, creamy texture to balance the heat. Whether it’s Chicken Tortilla Soup, Turkey & Bean Chili or Turkish Red Lentil, almost any soup or stew tastes better finished with a little plain yogurt. As a bonus, the extra dollop of yogurt is an easy way to squeeze in a little more protein.

Sneak Milk Into Your Coffee Break: Every afternoon I take a break for myself to get a caffeine boost either at home or at a local coffee shop when I’m working outside of the house. Whether it’s half and half in my Americano or an unsweetened latte made with milk, I am always finding ways to sneak in more dairy. In addition to caffeine, which keeps me awake and energized throughout the late afternoon, an 8-ounce serving of milk provides B vitamins for energy.

Serve Meat with Cucumber Yogurt Sauce: Cuisines from all over the world use cucumber yogurt sauces to balance out savory dishes. Greek Tzatziki is the ideal topping to charred, grilled meats. Indian Raita lends a cool, creamy sauce to helps balance spicy Indian curries. For a Middle Eastern flair, try Cucumber Laban made with lemon, garlic and mint.

Milk for Dessert: Growing up, we rarely had dessert after dinner. We did, however, frequently make Mexican Licuados made with three simple ingredients: milk, fruit and sugar. This frothy, creamy drink traditionally served by street vendors in Mexico is the ideal way to end the day. By making a dessert from wholesome ingredients like milk and fruit, you can serve your kids a sweet treat you won’t feel guilty about. Win win, right?

What are your favorite ways to add protein to your diet to fuel your busy day? I would love to hear from you!

Disclosure: This recipe is in partnership with Milk Life. Thank you for supporting the brands that make The Lemon Bowl possible. All thoughts are my own.

Reader Interactions

Comments

Favorite way to add protein to my diet is roasted pumpkin seeds!!! They are filling and so nutritious. And now that I’m getting older ~ ahem, pushing 40, whatever…….I find just how much I appreciate milk! It’s funny because when we go out to eat the kids meals always come with a drink and I get both of my girls white milk. And terrible mom that I am, I drink it on them! Opps. I guess that’s how badly I’m craving milk.

I just had to make a comment. I have studied food all my life, now 66 and extremely healthy, I take NO MEDS, and have no pains. One of the foods that are mistakenly taken for “healthy” is mile. First, adults are not made to drink milk. Only nursing infants of any animal drink milk. Second, pasteurizing milk kills bacteria, but it also kills all the nutrition. AND if your milk is not organic all of the growth hormones are going directly into your body, making your girls “mature” breasts much faster than normal because of the added medical hormones in the milk. I’m not trying to tellyou what to do, but I decided to respond to your comment simply because you are drinking it and so highly recommend it. Milk is not a food for adults, and cows are not your parent or your child’s. We need human milk only when we are infants, and never again. Aging cheeses makes a difference, but even them pasteurization kills the good stuff.

Thank you so much for your candid comment. Pasteurization is a simple, effective method to kill potentially harmful bacteria, but it does not affect the nutritional value of milk in a meaningful way. According to health experts, pasteurized milk offers the same health benefits of raw milk (unpasteurized) but without the risks. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommend that no one consume unpasteurized milk. There is no scientific evidence that drinking milk results in early puberty. Additionally, Dairy farmers in Michigan have taken a pledge to not use rBST, a synthetic version of bovine growth hormone. This was a decision made due to market demand, not related to any health or safety issue. All milk, conventional and organic, naturally contain very small amounts of hormones; 90% of these hormones are destroyed with pasteurization. The remaining trace amounts are broken down into inactive fragments in the gut. BST and rBST are both cow specific and have no effect on the human body, thus ‘hormones’ in milk are not a valid explanation for early puberty or a reason for concern.

Thank you again for sharing your candid feedback on milk. I hope you don’t mind me sharing mine as well.

I’m a huge fan of Greek yogurt, and use it every chance I get. Especially since I’ve been making my own. I also use whey protein powder in my smoothies & with dry cereal and with oatmeal, plus gelatin (collagen hydrosylate) in some things. The gelatin is only 43 calories per two tablespoons and has 11g protein. When I went through a vegan phase, I discovered that I was essentially starving myself because I wasn’t getting enough protein. Since then I’ve been very careful to make sure my diet is high in protein, and I’ve done much better. Protein really helps with keeping me sated for a reasonable amount of time.